DENNEY SWEEPS TO USAC SOUTHWEST SPRINT WESTERN WORLD OPENER WIN

Winner Jacob Denney. (Rich Forman Photo)

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Casa Grande, Arizona (October 22, 2026)………Jacob Denney may be brand new to sprint cars in 2026, but he looked every bit the part of a veteran during Thursday night’s Western World Championships USAC Southwest 360 Sprint Car feature at Central Arizona Raceway.

The Galloway, Ohio native swept the program after recording fast time in qualifying and capturing a heat race win before going on to lead the final nine laps to take his first career USAC Southwest Sprint Car feature victory in his first ever visit to the 3/8-mile dirt oval.

Starting fifth, Denney steadily worked his way up through the pack while pole sitter Kevin Thomas Jr. paced the field for much of the duration of the 25-lap race with Gavin Miller in tow.

Miller appeared to be Thomas’ fiercest foe. But with nine laps remaining and working his way through lapped traffic, Miller attempted to split the difference between A.J. Hernandez (16th) and Daylin Perreira (17th) midway between turns one and two. However, Miller just barely clipped Perreira’s right front tire with his own left rear tire, sending Miller into a 360 degree spin. Saddled with a flat left rear tire, Miller was forced to the work area before ultimately restarting at the tail and finishing 11th.

With the gap closed up between Thomas and new second place occupant Denney, it was a whole new ballgame.

One lap after the restart, Thomas got a bit wiggly on the turn four cushion. With a full head of steam and a full stride of momentum, Denney fired off a slide job on Thomas for the lead in turns one and two on lap 18, and the move stuck. From there, the race was an All American Slam for Denney.

Denney edged away from Thomas down the stretch to close out a 1.975 second victory in his CB Industries-Spire Motorsports/NationsGuard – PristineAuction.com – NOS Energy Drink/Spike/Stanton Chevy No. 87.

Following Denney to the stripe were Thomas, R.J. Johnson, and Ricky Thornton Jr., with Ryan Bernal rounding out the top five.

Jake Helsel, who was running eighth on the final lap, flipped upside down over in turns one and two on the final lap, but was able to walk away.

With his 20th to 8th run in the feature, Briggs Danner earned hard charger honors, plus his share of $801.27 from the Lafond Jar of Change.

USAC AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS SOUTHWEST SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: October 22, 2026 – Central Arizona Raceway – Casa Grande, Arizona – 59th Western World Championships

FIRST QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 20RT, Petty-16.799; 2. J.J. Yeley, 2, Yeley-16.906; 3. Dayton Shelton, 4D, Shelton-17.273; 4. Grant Schaadt, 88G, Schaadt-17.352; 5. Daylin Perreira, 21p, Perreira-17.505; 6. Austin Ervine, 21, Ervine-17.821; 7. Austin Cato, 38, Cato-18.032; 8. Brent Yarnal, 29, Yarnal-18.907; 9. Racin Silva, 5s, Silva-NT.

SECOND QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Gavin Miller, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-16.892; 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 51, Johnson-17.088; 3. Charles Davis Jr., 11c, DAR-17.251; 4. David Gasper, 20, Deskins-17.276; 5. Bruce St James, 1AZ, St. James-17.611; 6. Joshua Shipley, 2x, Shipley-17.753; 7. Koen Crawford, 48, Crawford-17.878; 8. Jordan Stetson, 8AZ, Stetson-18.432; 9. Rickey Kinney Jr., 81K, Kinney-18.891.

THIRD QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Elijah Gile, 17GP, Dutcher-16.588; 2. Jake Helsel, 44, Ledbetter-16.804; 3. A.J. Hernandez, 72, Hernandez-17.329; 4. Mickey Gile, 23AZ, Sussex-17.802; 5. James Webster, 5AZ, Webster-18.123; 6. Bryan Ledbetter Jr., 7OH, Ledbetter-18.187; 7. Lonnie Oliver, 11, Oliver-18.449; 8. Mike Waddle, 25w, Waddle-19.104.

FOURTH QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Jacob Denney, 87, CBI/Spire-16.520; 2. Ryan Bernal, 6c, Calderwood-16.667; 3. Briggs Danner, 6, Calderwood-16.707; 4. R.J. Johnson, 33p, Petty-16.888; 5. Ricky Lewis, 007, Siddle-16.954; 6. Chaz Baca, 57, Stone-17.504; 7. Dan Klinder, 30K, Klinder-18.857; 8. Elijah Loper, 43x, Loper-19.095.

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. J.J. Yeley (3), 2. Ricky Thornton Jr (4), 3. Grant Schaadt (1), 4. Dayton Shelton (2), 5. Austin Cato (7), 6. Daylin Perreira (5), 7. Austin Ervine (6), 8. Brent Yarnal (8), 9. Racin Silva (9). NT

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (3), 2. Gavin Miller (4), 3. David Gasper (1), 4. Bruce St. James (5), 5. Koen Crawford (7), 6. Joshua Shipley (6), 7. Jordan Stetson (8), 8. Rickey Kinney Jr. (9). NT

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Elijah Gile (4), 2. Jake Helsel (3), 3. A.J. Hernandez (2), 4. Mickey Gile (1), 5. Lonnie Oliver (7), 6. Bryan Ledbetter Jr. (6), 7. James Webster (5), 8. Mike Waddle (8). NT

FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jacob Denney (4), 2. R.J. Johnson (1), 3. Ryan Bernal (3), 4. Ricky Lewis (5), 5. Briggs Danner (2), 6. Chaz Baca (6), 7. Elijah Loper (8), 8. Dan Klinder (7). NT

SEMI: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chaz Baca (4), 2. Daylin Perreira (1), 3. Joshua Shipley (2), 4. Bryan Ledbetter Jr. (3), 5. Austin Ervine (5), 6. Brent Yarnal (9), 7. Jordan Stetson (6), 8. Racin Silva (13), 9. Mike Waddle (11), 10. Rickey Kinney Jr. (10), 11. Elijah Loper (8), 12. Dan Klinder (12). NT

FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jacob Denney (5), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (1), 3. R.J. Johnson (8), 4. Ricky Thornton Jr. (6), 5. Ryan Bernal (12), 6. Ricky Lewis (16), 7. J.J. Yeley (2), 8. Briggs Danner (20), 9. Chaz Baca (21), 10. David Gasper (10), 11. Gavin Miller (3), 12. Dayton Shelton (13), 13. Grant Schaadt (9), 14. A.J. Hernandez (11), 15. Bruce St. James (14), 16. Jake Helsel (7), 17. Daylin Perreira (22), 18. Joshua Shipley (23), 19. Austin Cato (17), 20. Koen Crawford (18), 21. Bryan Ledbetter Jr. (24), 22. Lonnie Oliver (19), 23. Mickey Gile (15), 24. Elijah Gile (4). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-17 Kevin Thomas Jr., Laps 18-25 Jacob Denney.

**Jake Helsel flipped on lap 25 of the feature.

NEXT USAC AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS SOUTHWEST SPRINT CAR RACES: October 23-24, 2026 – Central Arizona Raceway – Casa Grande, Arizona – 59th Western World Championships